Basket Weaving History

Archeologists tell us that the oldest known baskets presently appear to be some unearthed in Faiyum in upper Egypt; radiocarbon dating tests have shown them to be between 10,000 and 12,000 years old. Other Middle Eastern sites have produced baskets up to 7000 years old. The earliest dates for baskets are older than any yet established by archeologists for pottery.

Our ancestors, no matter who or where they were, made baskets. In every civilization and every part of the world, basket making has been practiced. Needed as carrying vessels, baskets were probably replaced by clay pots, the clay having been pressed around a basket for molding.

Throughout the centuries, baskets have served a utilitarian purpose. The type of plant life available in a region affected the choice of materials used by basket makers. Many materials require a specific method of weaving, twisting and/or braiding, as well as a certain texture, to render them durable. Primarily used as vessels or containers, there are baskets woven so tightly that they can carry water and other liquids without leaking a drop. In ancient times, essential basket functions were to carry food, water and seeds, as well as to store clothing and to transport everything from children to chickens.

Today, as in the past, baskets are used to carry dozens of items, from eggs to flowers. Specialty baskets, particularly those crafted by native tribes, serve to carry and store a myriad of items, including, but not limited to, hair adornments, fruits and nuts, mail, and sewing supplies. Baskets are even used to store supplies that crafters use to create other baskets.

Explorers, arriving in new, undiscovered lands, traded goods that were frequently contained and stored in baskets. Those receiving the goods studied the baskets, comparing them to their own, and began applying the grasses, trees, shrubs and other natural fibers and materials they had on hand to the newly arrived baskets.

This is why the Asian technique of basket weaving of hexagonal weaves is found in European baskets, and how European basket making techniques appeared in North, Central and South American baskets.

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